


Whatever it is, I love you

by holographicbubbles



Series: a-spec things [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Aromantic, Aromantic Awareness Week, Aromantic Awareness Week 2021, Aromantic spectrum, Canon Compliant, Demiromantic, Demiromanticism, F/F, Gen, celebrity crushes, demiromantic adora, or maybe not? i'm not sure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29717262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holographicbubbles/pseuds/holographicbubbles
Summary: Maybe, she worried, maybe she wasn’t so normal as she thought she was.Well, there wasn’t exactly anything normal about being an alien but she had thought she was just like everyone else.And maybe she wasn’t. Or maybe she just didn’t know anything about love.
Relationships: Adora & Double Trouble (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: a-spec things [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2191527
Kudos: 33





	Whatever it is, I love you

**Author's Note:**

> i have No Idea if this would be considered canon-compliant or not, but. anyway let's pretend that it is, and celebrity crushes are a thing on Etheria, because they're kinda necessary for the plot. considering the main event is an (almost) word-for-word conversation that i had with a friend about celebrity crushes and demiromanticism. 
> 
> you know, Adora gave me very strong a-spec vibes, like, specificaly demiro/demisexual, and I couldn't find any fics of that, surprisingly? (not like i looked hard please link some if youve read any!!!!!!!!! or just a-spec adora in general!!!!!!!) 
> 
> thanks again [Dork](https://archiveofourown.org/users/disneydork/) for encouraging me with these headcanons!!

“Truth or dare, Adora?” Glimmer smirked at Adora from across the circle that they had congregated into. Her knees were pulled to her chest, and she hugged a red velvet-looking pillow around them. A few bowls of varying snacks sat between them, some of their contents emptied onto the rug, to Glimmer’s annoyance. 

_“C’mon, guys,”_ she had whined, _“I know none of you are gonna help clean this up so at least_ try _to be neat!”_

Adora twirled a finger through her hair, tousling a few strands from her ponytail. Catra had tried to coax her into taking it out of the ponytail — _“Relax, Adora,” she’d said, as she sunk into the bed they now shared. “The war is over, Bright Moon is safe, you can let down your hair and relax for a day.”_ — to no avail. Adora had always only been able to control a few things about her life — the fun part of having a destiny — and her hair was one of them. So she kept it up because, in the slightest way, it had let her feel like she had power. 

Old habits die hard. The war might be over but she was still on her toes. 

“Adoraaaaaa,” Glimmer sang her name in an annoyed tone. “Adoraaahhhh!! Are you sleeping?? Truth or dare?” she repeated. Her voice was stern but playful. 

“Oh, uh—” Adora bit down on her lip and glanced around the room at all the expectant faces looking back at her.

Her voice squeaked when she started to speak again. “Truth...?” 

“Alright,” Glimmer chuckled, leaning forward to fish through the hat labeled ‘truth’ in bold handwriting. They had put a bunch of pieces of crumpled-up paper in it, each one with a different question to answer. She pulled out one, unfolded it, smoothed out the creases, and grinned as she started to speak.“Who’s—”

She was cut off by Double Trouble barging into the room. “Thanks for inviting me,” they commented sarcastically and swooned dramatically — as everything was with them — onto the couch. “It’s been a hard day, so hand some of that popcorn over.” 

Glimmer glared light-heartedly at them and cleared her throat. “As I was _saying,_ Adora, who’s your celebrity crush?” 

Adora tugged harder on the lock of hair that had fallen loose, pulling her head down to the side. _“Glimmer!_ Catra’s right there!” She jabbed her thumb at her girlfriend, whose back was curled toward the circle as she shoveled popcorn in her mouth.

Glimmer crossed her arms over her chest. “C’mon, spit it out,” she teased. “Bow’s here, too, and it’s not like I don’t have one—”

“Yeah, well, _who is it then?”_ Adora huffed.

“If I told you I’d never hear the end of it, besides _I_ wasn’t the one who was asked the question, so that is staying a secret.” She stuck her tongue out at Adora. “It’s just _fun,_ it's not like you’d actually want to be with that person!” 

Adora scowled at her. “I promise you, there’s no one.” 

Glimmer rolled her eyes. “Sure. Whatever, keep it a secret if you want.” 

Adora huffed, tucking the loose strands of hair back into her ponytail and tightening it again. She opened her mouth and quickly snapped it back closed, her gaze dropping to look at the floor. “Let’s just keep playing.” 

* * *

“Don’t worry, darling,” Double Trouble said, stretching the ‘ar’ sound, as they sauntered up to Adora, who was leaning against a pink-painted wall with one leg raise. She’d excused herself from the rest of the group a little while ago, to try to catch her breath, still pondering over Glimmer’s question. 

Maybe, she worried, maybe she wasn’t so normal as she thought she was. 

Well, there wasn’t exactly anything normal about being an alien but she had thought she was just like everyone else. 

And maybe she wasn’t. Maybe she was just an alien to love. 

“About earlier, with Glimmer. It’s not like I have celebrity crushes, whatever those are, either.” Double Trouble continued. They flipped their hair over their shoulders and adjusted the pink, sparkly bow tie around their neck. “I’m _far too_ fabulous for that.” 

Adora sighed, barely relieved by their words. “I never understood how someone could have a crush on someone they had never met.”

“That’s very demi of you to say,” Double Trouble commented nonchalantly, studying their nails, which were painted sparkly pink. 

“What?” Adora sucked in a breath, her chest heaving. She toyed with the end of her ponytail. 

“Demi— demiromantic.”

“I don’t—” Adora sniffed. Her voice shook and she continued quietly. She didn’t really want to admit it, but some part of her was scared too. “I don’t know what that means.” 

“Only feeling romantic attraction after becoming close to someone.” 

Adora started to say something but the words caught in her throat and the only sound that came out was a pinched _“oh.”_ She stared, wide-eyed at DT, her eyes full of thought and wonder like it was the first time she’d seen the world. 

DT grinned at her. “If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here for you,” they said, almost too sincerely for Adora to believe them. “But don’t disturb me if I am sleeping, if I am practicing, if I…” their eyes swooped over Adora. “You get the gist, don’t you?” 

Adora nodded, barely registering. 

“Your hair looks tight and uncomfortable, dear. You really should know by now that there’s no need to keep up the charade around me,” Double Trouble continued, changing the subject like it had been nothing. “Such a character, aren’t you, Adora? It’s irritating. Learn to loosen up.”

Adora shot them a low glare. Her fingers twitched at her sides, but she said nothing. 

DT smiled at her and ran their fingers through their hair, tousling it. “Just leaving you with a few things you could think about, darling,” they said and adjusted their bow tie once again with a smirk. 

And then they walked back away, still acting as if nothing had happened. Adora watched them go, still wonderstruck — even if she was a little annoyed that everyone seemed to have comments about her hair. 

Nevertheless, though, Adora loosened up her ponytail a little and swayed in front of the wall. She stood there for some time longer, processing everything that had just been thrown at her, before returning to the rest of her friends.

* * *

Adora clutched their blanket to her chest. It smelled like Catra, like comfort, like _home._ She rolled over onto her other side and faced Catra’s back. After so many years of the two of them, together just like this, she could trace the stripes on it from memory. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, like a fish blowing bubbles in a pond. 

“Catra?” Adora whispered, nervously. She fidgeted with the cloth between her hands. 

Catra turned over to face her, her eyes growing wide. “Adora, are you okay?” 

Adora shook her head. “No,” she said, nodding. “I mean yeah.” She shook her head again. “Yeah, I am.” 

Catra furrowed her brows. “And… _whatever_ that was that you just did was supposed to convince me?” 

Adora scoffed and lightly swatted her girlfriend’s hand. “No, I just—” She shrunk in on herself, feeling small. “I just wanna tell you something,” she mumbled. 

Catra smiled at her and clasped her warm hands over Adora’s, squeezing them. “You can tell me anything.” 

Adora swallowed. “I don’t wanna— I don’t want you to think this is gonna change anything, or that— or that I love you any less, and I don’t want you to—” she sniffed. 

Catra let go of Adora’s hands and brought one up to cup Adora’s cheek, pushing Adora’s gaze up to meet Catra’s. “Hey, hey. Whatever it is, I love you, okay?” 

Adora gave her a watery smile. “I love you too.” 

She hoped Catra knew she meant that with all she had in her. 

Adora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m demiromantic. And I guess that doesn’t— that doesn’t change anything about how we are now, but it does… it feels good to have a word to describe how I feel, you know?” 

She cracked open one of her eyes and looked up at her girlfriend. Catra was gazing down at her, her eyes filled with so much love, so much adoration. Adora felt her heart catch in her throat. She tilted her head into Catra’s hand, still resting on her cheek. 

“I love you so much, Adora,” Catra whispered. “Nothing will ever change that.” 

Adora opened her mouth to say something nothing came out. So instead, she leaned up to meet Catra’s lips with her own and hoped that could say all the things she couldn’t. 

* * *

She didn’t bother to put her hair back up the next morning. 

**Author's Note:**

> alright i really hope yall picked up on my attempt at symbolism cause that last line is meaningless if you didnt, huh. 
> 
> should i be mean and ruin this fic i actually worked hard on?? yes of course. alright, this fic is a prequel to [this monstrosity <3](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26538808) (i'm not at all sorry)


End file.
